Chula Vista City Attorney Glen Googins is close to finalizing a draft proposal that could require lobbyists to publicly register with the city each time they meet with a City Council member regarding an issue in which they have an interest.
Googins anticipates presenting a lobbyist registration ordinance proposal to the City Council at one of its August council meetings.
If approved the ordinance will make city government more transparent, Googins said.
“The lobbyist registration ordinance, if done right, can be an effective tool for increasing transparency and decision making,” he said. “So that city decision makers and the public know who’s representing whom and in what phase on things that are in front of the city”
As it stands now, a lobbyist can meet with any council member without it being publicly known, unless schedules reveal a meeting was on an official’s calendar.
Googins said he’s seeking input from various stakeholders on what the ordinance should include.
The city attorney said he is scheduled to meet with the Economic Development Policy Committee on July 24 to get input on the ordinance. Because the proposal is still in its draft form, details could not be shared, he said.
Googins said it’s important for the ordinance to maintain a balance of transparency and undue burden.
“We want to develop something that makes city decision making more transparent, but doesn’t create an undue burden and bureaucratic impediment to people providing input and consultations with City Council members,” he said.
Lobbyist and former Southwestern College board member Humberto Peraza has met with city officials in both the city of San Diego and in Chula Vista. He said San Diego has an ordinance that requires registration.
He said a similar ordinance in Chula Vista is “a way to be more transparent.”
He said the question is one of enforcement: How would the city take action if a lobbyist didn’t register and what would the consequences be?
An ad-hoc committee from the city’s board of ethics was formed in helping create such an ordinance. Anthony Jemison, a member of the ad-hoc committee and chairman of the board of ethics, said he researched lobbyist registration ordinances in the city of San Diego and in Atlanta, Georgia.
Googins said he has been `talking about a Lobbyist Registration Ordinance since he first got elected in 2010.
Googins is also working on an Ex-Parte Communications policy that he hopes to present at the same time as the Lobbyist Registration Ordinance. Ex-parte Communications pertain to paid lobbyist who communicate with council members through correspondence.
“You can only capture so much with a lobbyist registration ordinance because it’s really only intended to get at people who are being paid to represent the interest of others on matters where they are making direct communications to senior leadership,” he said. “But other projects that may have paid lobbyist but have a lot of different types of communications can also be captured by the decision makers themselves in keeping a log of Ex-parte Communications on certain matters that are before them.”
